Plant diacylglycerol acyltransferases

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to an isolated nucleic acid fragment encoding a diacylglycerol acyltransferase. The invention also relates to the construction of a chimeric gene encoding all or a portion of the diacylglycerol acyltransferase, in sense or antisense orientation, wherein expression of the chimeric gene results in production of altered levels of the diacylglycerol acyltransferase in a transformed host cell.

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No.12/338,607, filed Dec. 18, 2008, now abandoned, which is a divisional ofU.S. application Ser. No. 10/690,994, filed Oct. 21, 2003, now U.S. Pat.No. 7,524,945, issued Apr. 28, 2009, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 09/856,018, filed May. 16, 2001, now abandoned,which is a National Stage Application of PCT/US99/28354, filed Dec. 1,1999, now expired, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/110602, filed Dec. 2, 1998 now expired, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/127111, filed Mar. 31, 1999 now expired.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is in the field of plant molecular biology. Morespecifically, this invention pertains to nucleic acid fragments encodingdiacylglycerol acyltransferase in plants and seeds.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In eukaryotic cells triacylglycerols are quantitatively the mostimportant storage form of energy. Acyl CoA:diacylglycerolacyltransferase (DGAT, EC 2.3.1.20) uses fatty acyl CoA anddiacylglycerol as substrates to catalyze the only committed step intriacylglycerol synthesis. DGAT plays a fundamental role in themetabolism of cellular glycerolipids. Because it is an integral membraneprotein, DGAT has yet to be purified to homogeneity. A mouse cDNAencoding a protein with DGAT activity has been isolated by using asequence tag clone sharing regions of similarity with an acyl Co Acholesterol acyltransferase. This mouse DGAT has been cloned, sequencedand expressed in insect cells and its activity characterized (Cases, S.et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:13018-13023).

DGAT is important for the generation of seed oils, thus overexpressionof DGAT may be useful for increasing oil content of oilseeds andsuppression of DGAT may result in the diversion of carbon into othermetabolites.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a composition comprising an isolatedpolynucleotide or polypeptide of the present invention.

The present invention relates to an isolated polynucleotide of thepresent invention comprising the nucleotide sequence comprising at leastone of 30 contiguous nucleotides of a nucleic acid sequence selectedfrom the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17,19 and 21.

The present invention relates to an expression cassette comprising anisolated polynucleotide of the present invention operably linked to apromoter.

The present invention relates to an isolated polynucleotide comprising anucleotide sequence encoding a first polypeptide of at least 50 aminoacids that has at least 60% identity based on the Clustal method ofalignment when compared to a polypeptide selected from the groupconsisting of SEQ ID NOs:4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 20 and 22 or an isolatedpolynucleotide comprising the complement of the nucleotide sequence.

The present invention relates to an isolated polynucleotide comprising anucleotide sequence encoding a first polypeptide of at least 50 aminoacids that has at least 85% identity based on the Clustal method ofalignment when compared to a polypeptide selected from the groupconsisting of SEQ ID NOs:18 and 20.

It is preferred that the isolated polynucleotide of the claimedinvention consists of a nucleic acid sequence selected from the groupconsisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 thatcodes for the polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ IDNOs:2, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, and 22. The present invention also relates toan isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequences of at leastone of 40 (preferably at least one of 30) contiguous nucleotides derivedfrom a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ IDNOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, and the complement of suchnucleotide sequences.

The present invention relates to a chimeric gene comprising an isolatedpolynucleotide of the present invention operably linked to suitableregulatory sequences.

The present invention relates to an isolated host cell comprising achimeric gene of the present invention or an isolated polynucleotide ofthe present invention. The host cell may be eukaryotic, such as a yeastor a plant cell, or prokaryotic, such as a bacterial cell. The presentinvention also relates to a virus, preferably a baculovirus, comprisingan isolated polynucleotide of the present invention or a chimeric geneof the present invention.

The present invention relates to a process for producing an isolatedhost cell comprising a chimeric gene of the present invention or anisolated polynucleotide of the present invention, the process comprisingeither transforming or transfecting an isolated compatible host cellwith a chimeric gene or isolated polynucleotide of the presentinvention.

The present invention relates to a polypeptide of at least 50 aminoacids that has at least 60% identity based on the Clustal method ofalignment when compared to a polypeptide selected from the groupconsisting of a diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptide of SEQ IDNOs:4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 20 and 22.

The present invention relates to a polypeptide of at least 50 aminoacids that has at least 85% identity based on the Clustal method ofalignment when compared to a polypeptide selected from the groupconsisting of SEQ ID NOs:18 and 20.

The present invention relates to a polypeptide of at least 50 aminoacids that has at least 80% identity based on the Clustal method ofalignment when compared to a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2.

The present invention relates to a method of selecting an isolatedpolynucleotide that affects the level of expression of a diacylglycerolacyltransferase polypeptide in a host cell, preferably a plant cell, themethod comprising the steps of:

-   -   constructing an isolated polynucleotide of the present invention        or an isolated chimeric gene of the present invention;    -   introducing the isolated polynucleotide or the isolated chimeric        gene into a host cell;    -   measuring the level a diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptide        in the host cell containing the isolated polynucleotide; and    -   comparing the level of a diacylglycerol acyltransferase        polypeptide in the host cell containing the isolated        polynucleotide with the level of a diacylglycerol        acyltransferase polypeptide in a host cell that does not contain        the isolated polynucleotide.

The present invention relates to a method of obtaining a nucleic acidfragment encoding a substantial portion of a diacylglycerolacyltransferase polypeptide gene, preferably a plant diacylglycerolacyltransferase polypeptide gene, comprising the steps of: synthesizingan oligonucleotide primer comprising a nucleotide sequence of at leastone of 40 (preferably at least one of 30) contiguous nucleotides derivedfrom a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ IDNOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, and the complement of suchnucleotide sequences; and amplifying a nucleic acid fragment (preferablya cDNA inserted in a cloning vector) using the oligonucleotide primer.The amplified nucleic acid fragment preferably will encode a portion ofa diacylglycerol acyltransferase amino acid sequence.

The present invention also relates to a method of obtaining a nucleicacid fragment encoding all or a substantial portion of the amino acidsequence encoding a diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptidecomprising the steps of: probing a cDNA or genomic library with anisolated polynucleotide of the present invention; identifying a DNAclone that hybridizes with an isolated polynucleotide of the presentinvention; isolating the identified DNA clone; and sequencing the cDNAor genomic fragment that comprises the isolated DNA clone.

A further embodiment of the instant invention is a method for evaluatingat least one compound for its ability to inhibit the activity of adiacylglycerol acyltransferase, the method comprising the steps of: (a)transforming a host cell with a chimeric gene comprising a nucleic acidfragment encoding a diacylglycerol acyltransferase, operably linked tosuitable regulatory sequences; (b) growing the transformed host cellunder conditions that are suitable for expression of the chimeric genewherein expression of the chimeric gene results in production ofdiacylglycerol acyltransferase in the transformed host cell; (c)optionally purifying the diacylglycerol acyltransferase expressed by thetransformed host cell; (d) treating the diacylglycerol acyltransferasewith a compound to be tested; and (e) comparing the activity of thediacylglycerol acyltransferase that has been treated with a testcompound to the activity of an untreated diacylglycerol acyltransferase,thereby selecting compounds with potential for inhibitory activity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING AND SEQUENCE DESCRIPTIONS

The invention can be more fully understood from the following detaileddescription and the accompanying drawing and Sequence Listing which forma part of this application.

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C show an alignment of the amino acid sequences fromMus musculus diacylglycerol acetyltransferase (SEQ ID NO:25), theinstant Arabidopsis thaliana diacylglycerol acetyltransferase (araebcF;SEQ ID NO:2), the instant corn diacylglycerol acetyltransferase(cpj1c.pk005.h23; SEQ ID NO:8), the instant rice diacylglycerolacetyltransferase (r1s24.pk0034.d8:fis; SEQ ID NO:14), the instantsoybean diacylglycerol acetyltransferase (sr1.pk0098.a8; SEQ ID NO:16),and the instant wheat diacylglycerol acetyltransferase(wr1.pk0119.b6:fis; SEQ ID NO:22). Amino acids which are identical amongall sequences are indicated with an asterisk (*) above the alignmentwhile those conserved only among the plant sequences are indicated by aplus sign (+). Dashes are used by the program to maximize alignment ofthe sequences.

Table 1 lists the polypeptides that are described herein, thedesignation of the cDNA clones that comprise the nucleic acid fragmentsencoding polypeptides representing all or a substantial portion of thesepolypeptides, and the corresponding identifier (SEQ ID NO:) as used inthe attached Sequence Listing. The sequence descriptions and SequenceListing attached hereto comply with the rules governing nucleotideand/or amino acid sequence disclosures in patent applications as setforth in 37 C.F.R. §1.821-1.825.

TABLE 1 Diacylglycerol Acyltransferases SEQ ID NO: Protein CloneDesignation (Nucleotide) (Amino Acid) Arabidopsis araebcF 1 2Diacylgycerol Acyltransferase Corn Diacylgycerol Contig of: 3 4Acyltransferase cpj1c.pk005.h23 cen3n.pk0010.c10 ccol.pk0029.b6 CornDiacylgycerol cen3n.pk0113.e12 5 6 Acyltransferase Corn Diacylgycerolcpj1c.pk005.h23 7 8 Acyltransferase Corn Diacylgycerol Contig of: 9 10Acyltransferase p0042.cspaf49r p0122.ckamb57r p0125.czaau61rb RiceDiacylgycerol rls24.pk0034.d8 11 12 Acyltransferase Rice Diacylgycerolrls24.pk0034.d8:fis 13 14 Acyltransferase Soybean Diacylgycerolsr1.pk0098.a8 15 16 Acyltransferase Soybean Diacylgycerolsrc3c.pk013.h18 17 18 Acyltransferase Wheat Diacylgycerol wr1.pk0119.b619 20 Acyltransferase Wheat Diacylgycerol wr1.pk0119.b6:fis 21 22Acyltransferase

The nucleotide sequences having SEQ ID NOs:3, 11, 17, and 19 and theamino acid sequences having SEQ ID NOs:4, 12, 18, and 20 were presentedin the U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/110,602, filed Dec. 2, 1998.The nucleotide sequences having SEQ ID NOs:1 and 15 as well as the aminoacid sequences having SEQ ID NOs:2 and 16 were added in the U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/127,111, filed Mar. 3, 1999. Thenucleotide sequence presented in SEQ ID NO:15 encodes an entire soybeandiacylglycerol acyltransferase whose amino acid sequence is presented inSEQ ID NO:16, the amino acid sequence presented in SEQ ID NO:17 encodesonly a portion of the enzyme. The nucleotide sequence presented in SEQID NO:7 corresponds to the full insert sequence and encodes a proteinidentical to that of SEQ ID NO:4. The nucleotide sequences presented inSEQ ID NOs:11 and 19 correspond to a portion of those presented in SEQID NOs:13 and 21.

The Sequence Listing contains the one letter code for nucleotidesequence characters and the three letter codes for amino acids asdefined in conformity with the IUPAC-IUBMB standards described inNucleic Acids Res. 13:3021-3030 (1985) and in the Biochemical J. 219(No. 2):345-373 (1984) which are herein incorporated by reference. Thesymbols and format used for nucleotide and amino acid sequence datacomply with the rules set forth in 37 C.F.R. §1.822.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the context of this disclosure, a number of terms shall be utilized.As used herein, a “polynucleotide” is a nucleotide sequence such as anucleic acid fragment. A polynucleotide may be a polymer of RNA or DNAthat is single- or double-stranded, that optionally contains synthetic,non-natural or altered nucleotide bases. A polynucleotide in the form ofa polymer of DNA may be comprised of one or more segments of cDNA,genomic DNA, or synthetic DNA. An isolated polynucleotide of the presentinvention may include at least one of 40 contiguous nucleotides,preferably at least one of 30 contiguous nucleotides, most preferablyone of at least 15 contiguous nucleotides, of the nucleic acid sequenceof the SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, and thecomplement of such sequences.

As used herein, “contig” refers to a nucleotide sequence that isassembled from two or more constituent nucleotide sequences that sharecommon or overlapping regions of sequence homology. For example, thenucleotide sequences of two or more nucleic acid fragments can becompared and aligned in order to identify common or overlappingsequences. Where common or overlapping sequences exist between two ormore nucleic acid fragments, the sequences (and thus their correspondingnucleic acid fragments) can be assembled into a single contiguousnucleotide sequence.

As used herein, “substantially similar” refers to nucleic acid fragmentswherein changes in one or more nucleotide bases results in substitutionof one or more amino acids, but do not affect the functional propertiesof the polypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence. “Substantiallysimilar” also refers to nucleic acid fragments wherein changes in one ormore nucleotide bases does not affect the ability of the nucleic acidfragment to mediate alteration of gene expression by gene silencingthrough for example antisense or co-suppression technology.“Substantially similar” also refers to modifications of the nucleic acidfragments of the instant invention such as deletion or insertion of oneor more nucleotides that do not substantially affect the functionalproperties of the resulting transcript vis-á-vis the ability to mediategene silencing or alteration of the functional properties of theresulting protein molecule. It is therefore understood that theinvention encompasses more than the specific exemplary nucleotide oramino acid sequences and includes functional equivalents thereof.

Substantially similar nucleic acid fragments may be selected byscreening nucleic acid fragments representing subfragments ormodifications of the nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention,wherein one or more nucleotides are substituted, deleted and/orinserted, for their ability to affect the level of the polypeptideencoded by the unmodified nucleic acid fragment in a plant or plantcell. For example, a substantially similar nucleic acid fragmentrepresenting at least one of 30 contiguous nucleotides derived from theinstant nucleic acid fragment can be constructed and introduced into aplant or plant cell. The level of the polypeptide encoded by theunmodified nucleic acid fragment present in a plant or plant cellexposed to the substantially similar nucleic fragment can then becompared to the level of the polypeptide in a plant or plant cell thatis not exposed to the substantially similar nucleic acid fragment.

For example, it is well known in the art that antisense suppression andco-suppression of gene expression may be accomplished using nucleic acidfragments representing less than the entire coding region of a gene, andby nucleic acid fragments that do not share 100% sequence identity withthe gene to be suppressed. Moreover, alterations in a nucleic acidfragment which result in the production of a chemically equivalent aminoacid at a given site, but do not effect the functional properties of theencoded polypeptide, are well known in the art. Thus, a codon for theamino acid alanine, a hydrophobic amino acid, may be substituted by acodon encoding another less hydrophobic residue, such as glycine, or amore hydrophobic residue, such as valine, leucine, or isoleucine.Similarly, changes which result in substitution of one negativelycharged residue for another, such as aspartic acid for glutamic acid, orone positively charged residue for another, such as lysine for arginine,can also be expected to produce a functionally equivalent product.Nucleotide changes which result in alteration of the N-terminal andC-terminal portions of the polypeptide molecule would also not beexpected to alter the activity of the polypeptide. Each of the proposedmodifications is well within the routine skill in the art, as isdetermination of retention of biological activity of the encodedproducts. Consequently, an isolated polynucleotide comprising anucleotide sequence of at least one of 60 (preferably at least one of40, most preferably at least one of 30) contiguous nucleotides derivedfrom a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ IDNOs:1, 5, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, and the complement of such nucleotidesequences may be used in methods of selecting an isolated polynucleotidethat affects the expression of a polypeptide in a plant cell. A methodof selecting an isolated polynucleotide that affects the level ofexpression of a polypeptide such as diacylglyercol acyltransferase, in ahost cell (eukaryotic, such as plant or yeast, prokaryotic such asbacterial, or viral) may comprise the steps of: constructing an isolatedpolynucleotide of the present invention or an isolated chimeric gene ofthe present invention; introducing the isolated polynucleotide or theisolated chimeric gene into a host cell; measuring the level apolypeptide in the host cell containing the isolated polynucleotide; andcomparing the level of a polypeptide in the host cell containing theisolated polynucleotide with the level of a polypeptide in a host cellthat does not contain the isolated polynucleotide.

Moreover, substantially similar nucleic acid fragments may also becharacterized by their ability to hybridize. Estimates of such homologyare provided by either DNA-DNA or DNA-RNA hybridization under conditionsof stringency as is well understood by those skilled in the art (Hamesand Higgins, Eds. (1985) Nucleic Acid Hybridisation, IRL Press, Oxford,U.K.). Stringency conditions can be adjusted to screen for moderatelysimilar fragments, such as homologous sequences from distantly relatedorganisms, to highly similar fragments, such as genes that duplicatefunctional enzymes from closely related organisms. Post-hybridizationwashes determine stringency conditions. One set of preferred conditionsuses a series of washes starting with 6×SSC, 0.5% SDS at roomtemperature for 15 min, then repeated with 2×SSC, 0.5% SDS at 45° C. for30 min, and then repeated twice with 0.2×SSC, 0.5% SDS at 50° C. for 30min. A more preferred set of stringent conditions uses highertemperatures in which the washes are identical to those above except forthe temperature of the final two 30 min washes in 0.2×SSC, 0.5% SDS wasincreased to 60° C. Another preferred set of highly stringent conditionsuses two final washes in 0.1×SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65° C.

Substantially similar nucleic acid fragments of the instant inventionmay also be characterized by the percent identity of the amino acidsequences that they encode to the amino acid sequences disclosed herein,as determined by algorithms commonly employed by those skilled in thisart. Suitable nucleic acid fragments (isolated polynucleotides of thepresent invention) encode polypeptides that are at least 70% identical,preferably at least 80% identical to the amino acid sequences reportedherein. Preferred nucleic acid fragments encode amino acid sequencesthat are at least 85% identical to the amino acid sequences reportedherein. More preferred nucleic acid fragments encode amino acidsequences that are at least 90% identical to the amino acid sequencesreported herein. Most preferred are nucleic acid fragments that encodeamino acid sequences that are at least 95% identical to the amino acidsequences reported herein. Suitable nucleic acid fragments not only havethe above homologies but typically encode a polypeptide having at least50 amino acids, preferably at least 100 amino acids, more preferably atleast 150 amino acids, still more preferably at least 200 amino acids,and most preferably at least 250 amino acids. Sequence alignments andpercent identity calculations were performed using the Megalign programof the LASERGENE bioinformatics computing suite (DNASTAR Inc., Madison,Wis.). Multiple alignment of the sequences was performed using theClustal method of alignment (Higgins and Sharp (1989) CABIOS. 5:151-153)with the default parameters (GAP PENALTY=10, GAP LENGTH PENALTY=10).Default parameters for pairwise alignments using the Clustal method wereKTUPLE 1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALS SAVED=5.

A “substantial portion” of an amino acid or nucleotide sequencecomprises an amino acid or a nucleotide sequence that is sufficient toafford putative identification of the protein or gene that the aminoacid or nucleotide sequence comprises. Amino acid and nucleotidesequences can be evaluated either manually by one skilled in the art, orby using computer-based sequence comparison and identification toolsthat employ algorithms such as BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool;Altschul et al. (1993) J. Mol. Biol. 215:403). In general, a sequence often or more contiguous amino acids or thirty or more contiguousnucleotides is necessary in order to putatively identify a polypeptideor nucleic acid sequence as homologous to a known protein or gene.Moreover, with respect to nucleotide sequences, gene-specificoligonucleotide probes comprising 30 or more contiguous nucleotides maybe used in sequence-dependent methods of gene identification (e.g.,Southern hybridization) and isolation (e.g., in situ hybridization ofbacterial colonies or bacteriophage plaques). In addition, shortoligonucleotides of 12 or more nucleotides may be used as amplificationprimers in PCR in order to obtain a particular nucleic acid fragmentcomprising the primers. Accordingly, a “substantial portion” of anucleotide sequence comprises a nucleotide sequence that will affordspecific identification and/or isolation of a nucleic acid fragmentcomprising the sequence. The instant specification teaches amino acidand nucleotide sequences encoding polypeptides that comprise one or moreparticular plant proteins. The skilled artisan, having the benefit ofthe sequences as reported herein, may now use all or a substantialportion of the disclosed sequences for purposes known to those skilledin this art. Accordingly, the instant invention comprises the completesequences as reported in the accompanying Sequence Listing, as well assubstantial portions of those sequences as defined above.

“Codon degeneracy” refers to divergence in the genetic code permittingvariation of the nucleotide sequence without effecting the amino acidsequence of an encoded polypeptide. Accordingly, the instant inventionrelates to any nucleic acid fragment comprising a nucleotide sequencethat encodes all or a substantial portion of the amino acid sequencesset forth herein. The skilled artisan is well aware of the “codon-bias”exhibited by a specific host cell in usage of nucleotide codons tospecify a given amino acid. Therefore, when synthesizing a nucleic acidfragment for improved expression in a host cell, it is desirable todesign the nucleic acid fragment such that its frequency of codon usageapproaches the frequency of preferred codon usage of the host cell.

“Synthetic nucleic acid fragments” can be assembled from oligonucleotidebuilding blocks that are chemically synthesized using procedures knownto those skilled in the art. These building blocks are ligated andannealed to form larger nucleic acid fragments which may then beenzymatically assembled to construct the entire desired nucleic acidfragment. “Chemically synthesized”, as related to nucleic acid fragment,means that the component nucleotides were assembled in vitro. Manualchemical synthesis of nucleic acid fragments may be accomplished usingwell established procedures, or automated chemical synthesis can beperformed using one of a number of commercially available machines.Accordingly, the nucleic acid fragments can be tailored for optimal geneexpression based on optimization of nucleotide sequence to reflect thecodon bias of the host cell. The skilled artisan appreciates thelikelihood of successful gene expression if codon usage is biasedtowards those codons favored by the host. Determination of preferredcodons can be based on a survey of genes derived from the host cellwhere sequence information is available.

“Gene” refers to a nucleic acid fragment that expresses a specificprotein, including regulatory sequences preceding (5′ non-codingsequences) and following (3′ non-coding sequences) the coding sequence.“Native gene” refers to a gene as found in nature with its ownregulatory sequences. “Chimeric gene” refers any gene that is not anative gene, comprising regulatory and coding sequences that are notfound together in nature. Accordingly, a chimeric gene may compriseregulatory sequences and coding sequences that are derived fromdifferent sources, or regulatory sequences and coding sequences derivedfrom the same source, but arranged in a manner different than that foundin nature. “Endogenous gene” refers to a native gene in its naturallocation in the genome of an organism. A “foreign” gene refers to a genenot normally found in the host organism, but that is introduced into thehost organism by gene transfer. Foreign genes can comprise native genesinserted into a non-native organism, or chimeric genes. A “transgene” isa gene that has been introduced into the genome by a transformationprocedure.

“Coding sequence” refers to a nucleotide sequence that codes for aspecific amino acid sequence. “Regulatory sequences” refer to nucleotidesequences located upstream (5′ non-coding sequences), within, ordownstream (3′ non-coding sequences) of a coding sequence, and whichinfluence the transcription, RNA processing or stability, or translationof the associated coding sequence. Regulatory sequences may includepromoters, translation leader sequences, introns, and polyadenylationrecognition sequences.

“Promoter” refers to a nucleotide sequence capable of controlling theexpression of a coding sequence or functional RNA. In general, a codingsequence is located 3′ to a promoter sequence. The promoter sequenceconsists of proximal and more distal upstream elements, the latterelements often referred to as enhancers. Accordingly, an “enhancer” is anucleotide sequence which can stimulate promoter activity and may be aninnate element of the promoter or a heterologous element inserted toenhance the level or tissue-specificity of a promoter. Promoters may bederived in their entirety from a native gene, or be composed ofdifferent elements derived from different promoters found in nature, oreven comprise synthetic nucleotide segments. It is understood by thoseskilled in the art that different promoters may direct the expression ofa gene in different tissues or cell types, or at different stages ofdevelopment, or in response to different environmental conditions.Promoters which cause a nucleic acid fragment to be expressed in mostcell types at most times are commonly referred to as “constitutivepromoters”. New promoters of various types useful in plant cells areconstantly being discovered; numerous examples may be found in thecompilation by Okamuro and Goldberg (1989) Biochemistry of Plants15:1-82. It is further recognized that since in most cases the exactboundaries of regulatory sequences have not been completely defined,nucleic acid fragments of different lengths may have identical promoteractivity.

The “translation leader sequence” refers to a nucleotide sequencelocated between the promoter sequence of a gene and the coding sequence.The translation leader sequence is present in the fully processed mRNAupstream of the translation start sequence. The translation leadersequence may affect processing of the primary transcript to mRNA, mRNAstability or translation efficiency. Examples of translation leadersequences have been described (Turner and Foster (1995) Mol. Biotechnol.3:225-236).

The “3′ non-coding sequences” refer to nucleotide sequences locateddownstream of a coding sequence and include polyadenylation recognitionsequences and other sequences encoding regulatory signals capable ofaffecting mRNA processing or gene expression. The polyadenylation signalis usually characterized by affecting the addition of polyadenylic acidtracts to the 3′ end of the mRNA precursor. The use of different 3′non-coding sequences is exemplified by Ingelbrecht et al. (1989) PlantCell 1:671-680.

“RNA transcript” refers to the product resulting from RNApolymerase-catalyzed transcription of a DNA sequence. When the RNAtranscript is a perfect complementary copy of the DNA sequence, it isreferred to as the primary transcript or it may be a RNA sequencederived from posttranscriptional processing of the primary transcriptand is referred to as the mature RNA. “Messenger RNA (mRNA)” refers tothe RNA that is without introns and that can be translated intopolypeptide by the cell. “cDNA” refers to a double-stranded DNA that iscomplementary to and derived from mRNA. “Sense” RNA refers to an RNAtranscript that includes the mRNA and so can be translated into apolypeptide by the cell. “Antisense RNA” refers to an RNA transcriptthat is complementary to all or part of a target primary transcript ormRNA and that blocks the expression of a target gene (see U.S. Pat. No.5,107,065, incorporated herein by reference). The complementarity of anantisense RNA may be with any part of the specific nucleotide sequence,i.e., at the 5′ non-coding sequence, 3′ non-coding sequence, introns, orthe coding sequence. “Functional RNA” refers to sense RNA, antisenseRNA, ribozyme RNA, or other RNA that may not be translated but yet hasan effect on cellular processes.

The term “operably linked” refers to the association of two or morenucleic acid fragments on a single nucleic acid fragment so that thefunction of one is affected by the other. For example, a promoter isoperably linked with a coding sequence when it is capable of affectingthe expression of that coding sequence (i.e., that the coding sequenceis under the transcriptional control of the promoter). Coding sequencescan be operably linked to regulatory sequences in sense or antisenseorientation.

The term “expression”, as used herein, refers to the transcription andstable accumulation of sense (mRNA) or antisense RNA derived from thenucleic acid fragment of the invention. Expression may also refer totranslation of mRNA into a polypeptide. “Antisense inhibition” refers tothe production of antisense RNA transcripts capable of suppressing theexpression of the target protein. “Overexpression” refers to theproduction of a gene product in transgenic organisms that exceeds levelsof production in normal or non-transformed organisms. “Co-suppression”refers to the production of sense RNA transcripts capable of suppressingthe expression of identical or substantially similar foreign orendogenous genes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,020, incorporated herein byreference).

“Altered levels” refers to the production of gene product(s) intransgenic organisms in amounts or proportions that differ from that ofnormal or non-transformed organisms.

“Mature” protein refers to a post-translationally processed polypeptide;i.e., one from which any pre- or propeptides present in the primarytranslation product have been removed. “Precursor” protein refers to theprimary product of translation of mRNA; i.e., with pre- and propeptidesstill present. Pre- and propeptides may be but are not limited tointracellular localization signals.

A “chloroplast transit peptide” is an amino acid sequence which istranslated in conjunction with a protein and directs the protein to thechloroplast or other plastid types present in the cell in which theprotein is made. “Chloroplast transit sequence” refers to a nucleotidesequence that encodes a chloroplast transit peptide. A “signal peptide”is an amino acid sequence which is translated in conjunction with aprotein and directs the protein to the secretory system (Chrispeels(1991) Ann. Rev. Plant Phys. Plant Mol. Biol. 42:21-53). If the proteinis to be directed to a vacuole, a vacuolar targeting signal (supra) canfurther be added, or if to the endoplasmic reticulum, an endoplasmicreticulum retention signal (supra) may be added. If the protein is to bedirected to the nucleus, any signal peptide present should be removedand instead a nuclear localization signal included (Raikhel (1992) PlantPhys. 100:1627-1632).

“Transformation” refers to the transfer of a nucleic acid fragment intothe genome of a host organism, resulting in genetically stableinheritance. Host organisms containing the transformed nucleic acidfragments are referred to as “transgenic” organisms. Examples of methodsof plant transformation include Agrobacterium-mediated transformation(De Blaere et al. (1987) Meth. Enzymol. 143:277) andparticle-accelerated or “gene gun” transformation technology (Klein etal. (1987) Nature (London) 327:70-73; U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050,incorporated herein by reference).

Standard recombinant DNA and molecular cloning techniques used hereinare well known in the art and are described more fully in Sambrook etal. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual; Cold Spring HarborLaboratory Press: Cold Spring Harbor, 1989 (hereinafter “Maniatis”).

Nucleic acid fragments encoding at least a portion of severaldiacylglycerol acyltransferases have been isolated and identified bycomparison of random plant cDNA sequences to public databases containingnucleotide and protein sequences using the BLAST algorithms well knownto those skilled in the art. The nucleic acid fragments of the instantinvention may be used to isolate cDNAs and genes encoding homologousproteins from the same or other plant species. Isolation of homologousgenes using sequence-dependent protocols is well known in the art.Examples of sequence-dependent protocols include, but are not limitedto, methods of nucleic acid hybridization, and methods of DNA and RNAamplification as exemplified by various uses of nucleic acidamplification technologies (e.g., polymerase chain reaction, ligasechain reaction).

For example, genes encoding other diacylglycerol acyltransferases,either as cDNAs or genomic DNAs, could be isolated directly by using allor a portion of the instant nucleic acid fragments as DNA hybridizationprobes to screen libraries from any desired plant employing methodologywell known to those skilled in the art. Specific oligonucleotide probesbased upon the instant nucleic acid sequences can be designed andsynthesized by methods known in the art (Maniatis). Moreover, the entiresequences can be used directly to synthesize DNA probes by methods knownto the skilled artisan such as random primer DNA labeling, nicktranslation, or end-labeling techniques, or RNA probes using availablein vitro transcription systems. In addition, specific primers can bedesigned and used to amplify a part or all of the instant sequences. Theresulting amplification products can be labeled directly duringamplification reactions or labeled after amplification reactions, andused as probes to isolate full length cDNA or genomic fragments underconditions of appropriate stringency.

In addition, two short segments of the instant nucleic acid fragmentsmay be used in polymerase chain reaction protocols to amplify longernucleic acid fragments encoding homologous genes from DNA or RNA. Thepolymerase chain reaction may also be performed on a library of clonednucleic acid fragments wherein the sequence of one primer is derivedfrom the instant nucleic acid fragments, and the sequence of the otherprimer takes advantage of the presence of the polyadenylic acid tractsto the 3′ end of the mRNA precursor encoding plant genes. Alternatively,the second primer sequence may be based upon sequences derived from thecloning vector. For example, the skilled artisan can follow the RACEprotocol (Frohman et al. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:8998-9002)to generate cDNAs by using PCR to amplify copies of the region between asingle point in the transcript and the 3′ or 5′ end. Primers oriented inthe 3′ and 5′ directions can be designed from the instant sequences.Using commercially available 3′ RACE or 5′ RACE systems (BRL), specific3′ or 5′ cDNA fragments can be isolated (Ohara et al. (1989) Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 86:5673-5677; Loh et al. (1989) Science 243:217-220).Products generated by the 3′ and 5′ RACE procedures can be combined togenerate full-length cDNAs (Frohman and Martin (1989) Techniques 1:165).Consequently, a polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence of atleast one of 60 (preferably one of at least 40, most preferably one ofat least 30) contiguous nucleotides derived from a nucleotide sequenceselected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13,15, 17, 19, 21 and the complement of such nucleotide sequences may beused in such methods to obtain a nucleic acid fragment encoding asubstantial portion of an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide. Thepresent invention relates to a method of obtaining a nucleic acidfragment encoding a substantial portion of a polypeptide of a gene (suchas diacylglycerol acyltransferases) preferably a substantial portion ofa plant polypeptide of a gene, comprising the steps of: synthesizing anoligonucleotide primer comprising a nucleotide sequence of at least oneof 60 (preferably at least one of 40, most preferably at least one of30) contiguous nucleotides derived from a nucleotide sequence selectedfrom the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17,19, 21, and the complement of such nucleotide sequences; and amplifyinga nucleic acid fragment (preferably a cDNA inserted in a cloning vector)using the oligonucleotide primer. The amplified nucleic acid fragmentpreferably will encode a portion of a polypeptide.

Availability of the instant nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequencesfacilitates immunological screening of cDNA expression libraries.Synthetic peptides representing portions of the instant amino acidsequences may be synthesized. These peptides can be used to immunizeanimals to produce polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies with specificityfor peptides or proteins comprising the amino acid sequences. Theseantibodies can be then be used to screen cDNA expression libraries toisolate full-length cDNA clones of interest (Lerner (1984) Adv. Immunol.36:1-34; Maniatis).

The nucleic acid fragments of the instant invention may be used tocreate transgenic plants in which the disclosed polypeptides are presentat higher or lower levels than normal or in cell types or developmentalstages in which they are not normally found. This would have the effectof altering the oil content in those cells.

Overexpression of the proteins of the instant invention may beaccomplished by first constructing a chimeric gene in which the codingregion is operably linked to a promoter capable of directing expressionof a gene in the desired tissues at the desired stage of development.For reasons of convenience, the chimeric gene may comprise promotersequences and translation leader sequences derived from the same genes.3′ Non-coding sequences encoding transcription termination signals mayalso be provided. The instant chimeric gene may also comprise one ormore introns in order to facilitate gene expression.

Plasmid vectors comprising the instant chimeric gene can then beconstructed. The choice of plasmid vector is dependent upon the methodthat will be used to transform host plants. The skilled artisan is wellaware of the genetic elements that must be present on the plasmid vectorin order to successfully transform, select and propagate host cellscontaining the chimeric gene. The skilled artisan will also recognizethat different independent transformation events will result indifferent levels and patterns of expression (Jones et al. (1985) EMBO J.4:2411-2418; De Almeida et al. (1989) Mol. Gen. Genetics 218:78-86), andthus that multiple events must be screened in order to obtain linesdisplaying the desired expression level and pattern. Such screening maybe accomplished by Southern analysis of DNA, Northern analysis of mRNAexpression, Western analysis of protein expression, or phenotypicanalysis.

For some applications it may be useful to direct the instant polypeptideto different cellular compartments, or to facilitate its secretion fromthe cell. It is thus envisioned that the chimeric gene described abovemay be further supplemented by altering the coding sequence to encodethe instant polypeptide with appropriate intracellular targetingsequences such as transit sequences (Keegstra (1989) Cell 56:247-253),signal sequences or sequences encoding endoplasmic reticulumlocalization (Chrispeels (1991) Ann. Rev. Plant Phys. Plant Mol. Biol.42:21-53), or nuclear localization signals (Raikhel (1992) Plant Phys.100:1627-1632) added and/or with targeting sequences that are alreadypresent removed. While the references cited give examples of each ofthese, the list is not exhaustive and more targeting signals of utilitymay be discovered in the future.

It may also be desirable to reduce or eliminate expression of genesencoding the instant polypeptides in plants for some applications. Inorder to accomplish this, a chimeric gene designed for co-suppression ofthe instant polypeptide can be constructed by linking a gene or genefragment encoding that polypeptide to plant promoter sequences.Alternatively, a chimeric gene designed to express antisense RNA for allor part of the instant nucleic acid fragment can be constructed bylinking the gene or gene fragment in reverse orientation to plantpromoter sequences. Either the co-suppression or antisense chimericgenes could be introduced into plants via transformation whereinexpression of the corresponding endogenous genes are reduced oreliminated.

Molecular genetic solutions to the generation of plants with alteredgene expression have a decided advantage over more traditional plantbreeding approaches. Changes in plant phenotypes can be produced byspecifically inhibiting expression of one or more genes by antisenseinhibition or cosuppression (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,190,931, 5,107,065 and5,283,323). An antisense or cosuppression construct would act as adominant negative regulator of gene activity. While conventionalmutations can yield negative regulation of gene activity these effectsare most likely recessive. The dominant negative regulation availablewith a transgenic approach may be advantageous from a breedingperspective. In addition, the ability to restrict the expression ofspecific phenotype to the reproductive tissues of the plant by the useof tissue specific promoters may confer agronomic advantages relative toconventional mutations which may have an effect in all tissues in whicha mutant gene is ordinarily expressed.

The person skilled in the art will know that special considerations areassociated with the use of antisense or cosuppression technologies inorder to reduce expression of particular genes. For example, the properlevel of expression of sense or antisense genes may require the use ofdifferent chimeric genes utilizing different regulatory elements knownto the skilled artisan. Once transgenic plants are obtained by one ofthe methods described above, it will be necessary to screen individualtransgenics for those that most effectively display the desiredphenotype. Accordingly, the skilled artisan will develop methods forscreening large numbers of transformants. The nature of these screenswill generally be chosen on practical grounds, and is not an inherentpart of the invention. For example, one can screen by looking forchanges in gene expression by using antibodies specific for the proteinencoded by the gene being suppressed, or one could establish assays thatspecifically measure enzyme activity. A preferred method will be onewhich allows large numbers of samples to be processed rapidly, since itwill be expected that a large number of transformants will be negativefor the desired phenotype.

The instant polypeptide (or portions thereof) may be produced inheterologous host cells, particularly in the cells of microbial hosts,and can be used to prepare antibodies to the these proteins by methodswell known to those skilled in the art. The antibodies are useful fordetecting the polypeptide of the instant invention in situ in cells orin vitro in cell extracts. Preferred heterologous host cells forproduction of the instant polypeptide are microbial hosts. Microbialexpression systems and expression vectors containing regulatorysequences that direct high level expression of foreign proteins are wellknown to those skilled in the art. Any of these could be used toconstruct a chimeric gene for production of the instant polypeptide.This chimeric gene could then be introduced into appropriatemicroorganisms via transformation to provide high level expression ofthe encoded diacylglycerol acyltransferase. An example of a vector forhigh level expression of the instant polypeptide in a bacterial host isprovided (Example 7).

Additionally, the instant polypeptide can be used as a target tofacilitate design and/or identification of inhibitors of those enzymesthat may be useful as herbicides. This is desirable because thediacylglycerol acyltransferase described herein catalyzes the committedstep in triacylglycerol biosynthesis. Accordingly, inhibition of theactivity of the enzyme described herein could lead to inhibition plantgrowth. Thus, the instant diacylglycerol acyltransferase could beappropriate for new herbicide discovery and design.

All or a substantial portion of the nucleic acid fragments of theinstant invention may also be used as probes for genetically andphysically mapping the genes that they are a part of, and as markers fortraits linked to those genes. Such information may be useful in plantbreeding in order to develop lines with desired phenotypes. For example,the instant nucleic acid fragments may be used as restriction fragmentlength polymorphism (RFLP) markers. Southern blots (Maniatis) ofrestriction-digested plant genomic DNA may be probed with the nucleicacid fragments of the instant invention. The resulting banding patternsmay then be subjected to genetic analyses using computer programs suchas MapMaker (Lander et al. (1987) Genomics 1:174-181) in order toconstruct a genetic map. In addition, the nucleic acid fragments of theinstant invention may be used to probe Southern blots containingrestriction endonuclease-treated genomic DNAs of a set of individualsrepresenting parent and progeny of a defined genetic cross. Segregationof the DNA polymorphisms is noted and used to calculate the position ofthe instant nucleic acid sequence in the genetic map previously obtainedusing this population (Botstein et al. (1980) Am. J. Hum. Genet.32:314-331).

The production and use of plant gene-derived probes for use in geneticmapping is described in Bernatzky and Tanksley (1986) Plant Mol. Biol.Reporter 4:37-41. Numerous publications describe genetic mapping ofspecific cDNA clones using the methodology outlined above or variationsthereof. For example, F2 intercross populations, backcross populations,randomly mated populations, near isogenic lines, and other sets ofindividuals may be used for mapping. Such methodologies are well knownto those skilled in the art.

Nucleic acid probes derived from the instant nucleic acid sequences mayalso be used for physical mapping (i.e., placement of sequences onphysical maps; see Hoheisel et al. In: Nonmammalian Genomic Analysis: APractical Guide, Academic press 1996, pp. 319-346, and references citedtherein).

In another embodiment, nucleic acid probes derived from the instantnucleic acid sequences may be used in direct fluorescence in situhybridization (FISH) mapping (Trask (1991) Trends Genet. 7:149-154).Although current methods of FISH mapping favor use of large clones(several to several hundred KB; see Laan et al. (1995) Genome Res.5:13-20), improvements in sensitivity may allow performance of FISHmapping using shorter probes.

A variety of nucleic acid amplification-based methods of genetic andphysical mapping may be carried out using the instant nucleic acidsequences. Examples include allele-specific amplification (Kazazian(1989) J. Lab. Clin. Med. 11:95-96), polymorphism of PCR-amplifiedfragments (CAPS; Sheffield et al. (1993) Genomics 16:325-332),allele-specific ligation (Landegren et al. (1988) Science241:1077-1080), nucleotide extension reactions (Sokolov (1990) NucleicAcid Res. 18:3671), Radiation Hybrid Mapping (Walter et al. (1997) Nat.Genet. 7:22-28) and Happy Mapping (Dear and Cook (1989) Nucleic AcidRes. 17:6795-6807). For these methods, the sequence of a nucleic acidfragment is used to design and produce primer pairs for use in theamplification reaction or in primer extension reactions. The design ofsuch primers is well known to those skilled in the art. In methodsemploying PCR-based genetic mapping, it may be necessary to identify DNAsequence differences between the parents of the mapping cross in theregion corresponding to the instant nucleic acid sequence. This,however, is generally not necessary for mapping methods.

Loss of function mutant phenotypes may be identified for the instantcDNA clones either by targeted gene disruption protocols or byidentifying specific mutants for these genes contained in a maizepopulation carrying mutations in all possible genes (Ballinger andBenzer (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:9402-9406; Koes et al.(1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:8149-8153; Bensen et al. (1995)Plant Cell 7:75-84). The latter approach may be accomplished in twoways. First, short segments of the instant nucleic acid fragments may beused in polymerase chain reaction protocols in conjunction with amutation tag sequence primer on DNAs prepared from a population ofplants in which Mutator transposons or some other mutation-causing DNAelement has been introduced (see Bensen, supra). The amplification of aspecific DNA fragment with these primers indicates the insertion of themutation tag element in or near the plant gene encoding the instantpolypeptide. Alternatively, the instant nucleic acid fragment may beused as a hybridization probe against PCR amplification productsgenerated from the mutation population using the mutation tag sequenceprimer in conjunction with an arbitrary genomic site primer, such asthat for a restriction enzyme site-anchored synthetic adaptor. Witheither method, a plant containing a mutation in the endogenous geneencoding the instant polypeptide can be identified and obtained. Thismutant plant can then be used to determine or confirm the naturalfunction of the instant polypeptide disclosed herein.

EXAMPLES

The present invention is further defined in the following Examples, inwhich all parts and percentages are by weight and degrees are Celsius,unless otherwise stated. It should be understood that these Examples,while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given byway of illustration only. From the above discussion and these Examples,one skilled in the art can ascertain the essential characteristics ofthis invention, and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof,can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt itto various usages and conditions.

Example 1 Composition of cDNA Libraries; Isolation and Sequencing ofcDNA Clones

cDNA libraries representing mRNAs from various Arabidopsis, corn, rice,soybean, and wheat tissues were prepared. The characteristics of thelibraries are described below.

TABLE 2 cDNA Libraries from Arabidopsis, Corn, Rice, Soybean, and WheatLibrary Tissue Clone ara 3 day-old Arabidopsis thaliana seedlinghypocotyls araebcF cco1 Corn Cob of 67 Day Old Plants Grown in GreenHouse cco1.pk0029.b6 cen3n Corn Endosperm 20 Days After Pollination*cen3n.pk0010.c10 cen3n.pk0113.e12 cpj1c Corn Pooled BMS Treated WithChemicals Related to Membrane cpj1c.pk005.h23 Ionic Force** p0042 CornSeedling After 10 Day Drought Stress Heat Shocked for 24 p0042.cspaf49rHours at 45° C. p0122 Corn Pith Tissue from Internode Subtending EarNode 5 Days p0122.ckamb57r After Pollination* p0125 Corn Anther ProphaseI* p0125.czaau61rb rls24 Rice Leaf 15 Days After Germination, 24 HoursAfter Infection rls24.pk0034.d8 of Strain Magaporthe grisea 4360-R-67(AVR2-YAMO); Susceptible sr1 Soybean Root sr1.pk0098.a8 src3c Soybean 8Day Old Root Infected With Cyst Nematode src3c.pk013.h18 wr1 Wheat RootFrom 7 Day Old Seedling wr1.pk0119.b6 *These libraries were normalizedessentially as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,845, \incorporatedherein by reference. **Chemicals used included valinomycin, bafilomycinA1, oligomycin, and ionomycin.

cDNA libraries may be prepared by any one of many methods available. Forexample, the cDNAs may be introduced into plasmid vectors by firstpreparing the cDNA libraries in Uni-ZAP™ XR vectors according to themanufacturer's protocol (Stratagene Cloning Systems, La Jolla, Calif.).The Uni-ZAP™ XR libraries are converted into plasmid libraries accordingto the protocol provided by Stratagene. Upon conversion, cDNA insertswill be contained in the plasmid vector pBluescript. In addition, thecDNAs may be introduced directly into precut Bluescript II SK(+) vectors(Stratagene) using T4 DNA ligase (New England Biolabs), followed bytransfection into DH10B cells according to the manufacturer's protocol(GIBCO BRL Products). Once the cDNA inserts are in plasmid vectors,plasmid DNAs are prepared from randomly picked bacterial coloniescontaining recombinant pBluescript plasmids, or the insert cDNAsequences are amplified via polymerase chain reaction using primersspecific for vector sequences flanking the inserted cDNA sequences.Amplified insert DNAs or plasmid DNAs are sequenced in dye-primersequencing reactions to generate partial cDNA sequences (expressedsequence tags or “ESTs”; see Adams et al., (1991) Science252:1651-1656). The resulting ESTs are analyzed using a Perkin ElmerModel 377 fluorescent sequencer.

Example 2 Identification of cDNA Clones

cDNA clones encoding diacylglycerol acyltransferases were identified byconducting BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool; Altschul et al.(1993) J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410) searches for similarity to sequencescontained in the BLAST “nr” database (comprising all non-redundantGenBank CDS translations, sequences derived from the 3-dimensionalstructure Brookhaven Protein Data Bank, the last major release of theSWISS-PROT protein sequence database, EMBL, and DDBJ databases). ThecDNA sequences obtained in Example 1 were analyzed for similarity to allpublicly available DNA sequences contained in the “nr” database usingthe BLASTN algorithm provided by the National Center for BiotechnologyInformation (NCBI). The DNA sequences were translated in all readingframes and compared for similarity to all publicly available proteinsequences contained in the “nr” database using the BLASTX algorithm(Gish and States (1993) Nat. Genet. 3:266-272) provided by the NCBI. Forconvenience, the P-value (probability) of observing a match of a cDNAsequence to a sequence contained in the searched databases merely bychance as calculated by BLAST are reported herein as “pLog” values,which represent the negative of the logarithm of the reported P-value.Accordingly, the greater the pLog value, the greater the likelihood thatthe cDNA sequence and the BLAST “hit” represent homologous proteins.

Example 3 Characterization of Corn, Rice, and Wheat cDNA Clones EncodingDiacylglycerol Acyltransferase

The BLASTX search using the EST sequences from clones listed in Table 3revealed similarity of the proteins encoded by the cDNAs to a putativeAcyl CoA cholesterol acyltransferase related gene product fromArabidopsis thaliana (NCBI General Identifier No. 3135276), and todiacylglycerol acyltransferases from Homo sapiens and Mus musculus (NCBIGeneral Identifier Nos. 3746533, and 3859934, respectively). Animal acylCoA cholesterol acyltransferases have recently been shown to be relatedto diacylglycerol acyltransferases (Cases et al. (1998) Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 95:13018-13023). The sequences included here aretherefore more likely to be diacylglycerol acyltransferases than acylCoA cholesterol acyltransferases since cholesterol is only a very minorconstituent of plant sterols. Shown in Table 3 are the BLAST results forindividual ESTs (“EST”), or contigs assembled from two or more ESTs(“Contig”):

TABLE 3 BLAST Results for Clones Encoding Polypeptides Homologous toDiacylglycerol Acyltransferase BLAST pLog Score Clone Status 37465333859934 Contig of: Contig 59.70 59.52 cpj1c.pk005.h23 cen3n.pk0010.c10cco1.pk0029.b6 cen3n.pk0113.e12 EST 38.00 39.00 rls24.pk0034.d8 EST 3.703.70 wr1.pk0119.b6 EST 4.52 4.40

The BLASTX search using the EST sequences from clones listed in Table 4revealed similarity of the proteins encoded by the cDNAs to putativediacylglycerol acyltransferases from Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassicanapus (NCBI General Identifier Nos. 5050913 and 5579408, respectively).Shown in Table 4 are the BLAST results for the sequences of the entirecDNA inserts comprising the indicated cDNA clones (“FIS”), contigsassembled from two or more ESTs (“Contig”), or sequences encoding theentire protein derived from an FIS and PCR (“CGS”):

TABLE 4 BLAST Results for Clones Encoding Polypeptides Homologous toDiacylglycerol, Acyltransferase BLAST pLog Score Clone Status 50509135579408 cpj1c.pk005.h23 FIS 113.00 116.00 Contig of: Contig 111.00109.00 p0042.cspaf49r p0122.ckamb57r p0125.czaau61rb r1s24.pk0034.d8:fisCGS >250.00 173.00 wr1.pk0119.b6:fis CGS 177.00 173.00

Sequence alignments (see Example 4) and BLAST scores and probabilitiesindicate that the nucleic acid fragments comprising the instant cDNAclones encode a substantial portion of a corn diacylglycerolacyltransferase and entire corn, rice, and wheat diacylglycerolacyltransferases. These sequences represent the first corn, rice, andwheat sequences encoding diacylglycerol acyltransferases.

Example 4 Cloning and Sequencing of cDNAs Encoding Entire Soybean andArabidopsis thaliana Diacylglycerol Acyltransferases

The BLASTX search using the EST sequences from clones listed in Table 5revealed similarity of the proteins encoded by the cDNAs to ahypothetical protein from Arabisopsis thaliana and the Mus musculus DGAT(NCBI General Identifier Nos: 3135275 and 3859934, respectively). Thesequence of the entire cDNA insert in clone src3c.pk013.h18 wasdetermined, it was found to contain insertions and deletions withrespect to known diacylglycerol acetyltransferases. Clone srl.pk0098.a8was found by searching the DuPont EST database for soybean sequenceswith similarities to the entire cDNA sequence from clonesrc3c.pk013.h18.

Because it was suspected that the Arabidopsis thaliana putative ACATsequence encoded only the C-terminal half of a DGAT, an Arabidopsisthaliana DGAT sequence was obtained by PCR from a public librarydescribed by Kieber et al. (1993) Cell 72:427-441. This library wasprepared from polyA+ RNA isolated from 3 day-old Arabidopsis thaliana(Columbia) seedling hypocotyls and consisted of 2 to 3 kb size-selectedcDNA inserts cloned into the EcoRI site of lambda-ZAPII (Stratagene).Prior to use in PCR reactions, the library was converted into plasmidform by mass-excision following Hay and Short (1992) Strategies 5:16-18)to yield pBluescript SK(−)-containing cDNA inserts. Primers used for PCRwere:

AtDGx5′ 5′ CTT AGC TTC TTC CTT CAA TC 3′ AT-DGAT3′ 5′TTT CTA GAC TCG AGT GAA CAG TTG TTT CAT GAC 3′

The PCR primers were designed based on EST and genomic sequences in thepublic domain. An Arabidopsis thaliana EST sequence (GenBank GeneralIdentifier No. 2414087) was used to design the 3′ primer (AT-DGAT3; SEQID NO:23). The 5′ primer (AtDGx5; SEQ ID NO:24) was based on Arabidopsisgenomic sequence information found in NCBI General Identifier No.3135250, but could not have been readily predicted as the appropriate 5′end of the cDNA, based on public sequences. The 5′ primer was designedto be located upstream of a stop codon located in the same reading frameas the codon for the putative start methionine. The PCR product fromthis primer is therefore likely to contain the entire cDNA.

Shown in Table 5 are the BLAST results for individual ESTs (“EST”), orsequences encoding the entire protein derived from an FIS and PCR(“CGS”):

TABLE 5 BLAST Results for Sequences Encoding Polypeptides Homologous toDiacylglycerol Acyltransferase BLAST pLog Score Clone Status 31352753859934 araebcF CGS 132.00 77.70 src3c.pk013.h18 EST 3.00 sr1.pk0098.a8CGS 105.00 81.52

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C present an alignment of the amino acid sequencesset forth in SEQ ID NOs:2, 8, 14, 16, and 22 and the Mus musculus andArabidopsis thaliana diacylglycerol acetyltransferase sequences (SEQ IDNO:25 and SEQ ID NO:26). The data in Table 6 represents a calculation ofthe percent identity of the amino acid sequences set forth in SEQ IDNOs:2, 8, 14, 16, and 22 and the Mus musculus and Arabidopsis thalianadiacylglycerol acetyltransferase sequences (SEQ ID NO:25 and SEQ IDNO:26).

TABLE 6 Percent Identity of Amino Acid Sequences Deduced From theNucleotide Sequences of cDNA Clones Encoding Polypeptides Homologous toDiacylglycerol Acyltransferase Percent Identity to SEQ ID NO. 38599345050913 2 31.9 99.6 8 31.5 56.0 14 29.3 57.4 16 30.9 65.9 22 29.9 58.7

Sequence alignments and percent identity calculations were performedusing the Megalign program of the LASERGENE bioinformatics computingsuite (DNASTAR Inc., Madison, Wis.). Multiple alignment of the sequenceswas performed using the Clustal method of alignment (Higgins and Sharp(1989) CABIOS. 5:151-153) with the default parameters (GAP PENALTY=10,GAP LENGTH PENALTY=10). Default parameters for pairwise alignments usingthe Clustal method were KTUPLE 1, GAP PENALTY=3, WINDOW=5 and DIAGONALSSAVED=5. Sequence alignments and BLAST scores and probabilities indicatethat the nucleic acid fragments comprising the instant cDNA clonesencode a substantial portion of three corn, one entire Arabidopsis, oneentire rice, and one entire wheat diacylglycerol acyltransferase. Thesesequences represent the first Arabidopsis, corn, rice, soybean, andwheat sequences encoding diacylglycerol acyltransferase.

Example 5 Expression of Chimeric Genes in Monocot Cells

A chimeric gene comprising a cDNA encoding the instant polypeptide insense orientation with respect to the maize 27 kD zein promoter that islocated 5′ to the cDNA fragment, and the 10 kD zein 3′ end that islocated 3′ to the cDNA fragment, can be constructed. The cDNA fragmentof this gene may be generated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of thecDNA clone using appropriate oligonucleotide primers. Cloning sites(NcoI or SmaI) can be incorporated into the oligonucleotides to provideproper orientation of the DNA fragment when inserted into the digestedvector pML103 as described below. Amplification is then performed in astandard PCR. The amplified DNA is then digested with restrictionenzymes NcoI and SmaI and fractionated on an agarose gel. Theappropriate band can be isolated from the gel and combined with a 4.9 kbNcoI-SmaI fragment of the plasmid pML103. Plasmid pML103 has beendeposited under the terms of the Budapest Treaty at ATCC (American TypeCulture Collection, 10801 University Blvd., Manassas, Va. 20110-2209),and bears accession number ATCC 97366. The DNA segment from pML103contains a 1.05 kb SalI-NcoI promoter fragment of the maize 27 kD zeingene and a 0.96 kb SmaI-SalI fragment from the 3′ end of the maize 10 kDzein gene in the vector pGem9Zf(+) (Promega). Vector and insert DNA canbe ligated at 15° C. overnight, essentially as described (Maniatis). Theligated DNA may then be used to transform E. coli XL1-Blue (EpicurianColi XL-1 Blue™; Stratagene). Bacterial transformants can be screened byrestriction enzyme digestion of plasmid DNA and limited nucleotidesequence analysis using the dideoxy chain termination method (Sequenase™DNA Sequencing Kit; U.S. Biochemical). The resulting plasmid constructwould comprise a chimeric gene encoding, in the 5′ to 3′ direction, themaize 27 kD zein promoter, a cDNA fragment encoding the instantpolypeptide, and the 10 kD zein 3′ region.

The chimeric gene described above can then be introduced into corn cellsby the following procedure Immature corn embryos can be dissected fromdeveloping caryopses derived from crosses of the inbred corn lines H99and LH132. The embryos are isolated 10 to 11 days after pollination whenthey are 1.0 to 1.5 mm long. The embryos are then placed with theaxis-side facing down and in contact with agarose-solidified N6 medium(Chu et al. (1975) Sci. Sin. Peking 18:659-668). The embryos are kept inthe dark at 27° C. Friable embryogenic callus consisting ofundifferentiated masses of cells with somatic proembryoids and embryoidsborne on suspensor structures proliferates from the scutellum of theseimmature embryos. The embryogenic callus isolated from the primaryexplant can be cultured on N6 medium and sub-cultured on this mediumevery 2 to 3 weeks.

The plasmid, p35S/Ac (obtained from Dr. Peter Eckes, Hoechst Ag,Frankfurt, Germany) may be used in transformation experiments in orderto provide for a selectable marker. This plasmid contains the Pat gene(see European Patent Publication 0 242 236) which encodesphosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT). The enzyme PAT confersresistance to herbicidal glutamine synthetase inhibitors such asphosphinothricin. The pat gene in p35S/Ac is under the control of the35S promoter from Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (Odell et al. (1985) Nature313:810-812) and the 3′ region of the nopaline synthase gene from theT-DNA of the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

The particle bombardment method (Klein et al. (1987) Nature 327:70-73)may be used to transfer genes to the callus culture cells. According tothis method, gold particles (1 μm in diameter) are coated with DNA usingthe following technique. Ten μg of plasmid DNAs are added to 50 μL of asuspension of gold particles (60 mg per mL). Calcium chloride (50 μL ofa 2.5 M solution) and spermidine free base (20 μL of a 1.0 M solution)are added to the particles. The suspension is vortexed during theaddition of these solutions. After 10 minutes, the tubes are brieflycentrifuged (5 sec at 15,000 rpm) and the supernatant removed. Theparticles are resuspended in 200 μL of absolute ethanol, centrifugedagain and the supernatant removed. The ethanol rinse is performed againand the particles resuspended in a final volume of 30 μL of ethanol. Analiquot (5 μL) of the DNA-coated gold particles can be placed in thecenter of a Kapton™ flying disc (Bio-Rad Labs). The particles are thenaccelerated into the corn tissue with a Biolistic™ PDS-1000/He (Bio-RadInstruments, Hercules Calif.), using a helium pressure of 1000 psi, agap distance of 0.5 cm and a flying distance of 1.0 cm.

For bombardment, the embryogenic tissue is placed on filter paper overagarose-solidified N6 medium. The tissue is arranged as a thin lawn andcovered a circular area of about 5 cm in diameter. The petri dishcontaining the tissue can be placed in the chamber of the PDS-1000/Heapproximately 8 cm from the stopping screen. The air in the chamber isthen evacuated to a vacuum of 28 inches of Hg. The macrocarrier isaccelerated with a helium shock wave using a rupture membrane thatbursts when the He pressure in the shock tube reaches 1000 psi.

Seven days after bombardment the tissue can be transferred to N6 mediumthat contains gluphosinate (2 mg per liter) and lacks casein or proline.The tissue continues to grow slowly on this medium. After an additional2 weeks the tissue can be transferred to fresh N6 medium containinggluphosinate. After 6 weeks, areas of about 1 cm in diameter of activelygrowing callus can be identified on some of the plates containing theglufosinate-supplemented medium. These calli may continue to grow whensub-cultured on the selective medium.

Plants can be regenerated from the transgenic callus by firsttransferring clusters of tissue to N6 medium supplemented with 0.2 mgper liter of 2,4-D. After two weeks the tissue can be transferred toregeneration medium (Fromm et al. (1990) Bio/Technology 8:833-839).

Example 6 Expression of Chimeric Genes in Dicot Cells

A seed-specific expression cassette composed of the promoter andtranscription terminator from the gene encoding the 0 subunit of theseed storage protein phaseolin from the bean Phaseolus vulgaris (Doyleet al. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261:9228-9238) can be used for expressionof the instant polypeptide in transformed soybean. The phaseolincassette includes about 500 nucleotides upstream (5′) from thetranslation initiation codon and about 1650 nucleotides downstream (3′)from the translation stop codon of phaseolin. Between the 5′ and 3′regions are the unique restriction endonuclease sites Nco I (whichincludes the ATG translation initiation codon), Sma I, Kpn I and Xba I.The entire cassette is flanked by Hind III sites.

The cDNA fragment of this gene may be generated by polymerase chainreaction (PCR) of the cDNA clone using appropriate oligonucleotideprimers. Cloning sites can be incorporated into the oligonucleotides toprovide proper orientation of the DNA fragment when inserted into theexpression vector. Amplification is then performed as described above,and the isolated fragment is inserted into a pUC18 vector carrying theseed expression cassette.

Soybean embryos may then be transformed with the expression vectorcomprising sequences encoding the instant polypeptide. To induce somaticembryos, cotyledons, 3-5 mm in length dissected from surface sterilized,immature seeds of the soybean cultivar A2872, can be cultured in thelight or dark at 26° C. on an appropriate agar medium for 6-10 weeks.Somatic embryos which produce secondary embryos are then excised andplaced into a suitable liquid medium. After repeated selection forclusters of somatic embryos which multiplied as early, globular stagedembryos, the suspensions are maintained as described below.

Soybean embryogenic suspension cultures can maintained in 35 mL liquidmedia on a rotary shaker, 150 rpm, at 26° C. with florescent lights on a16:8 hour day/night schedule. Cultures are subcultured every two weeksby inoculating approximately 35 mg of tissue into 35 mL of liquidmedium.

Soybean embryogenic suspension cultures may then be transformed by themethod of particle gun bombardment (Klein et al. (1987) Nature (London)327:70-73, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050). A DuPont Biolistic™ PDS1000/HEinstrument (helium retrofit) can be used for these transformations.

A selectable marker gene which can be used to facilitate soybeantransformation is a chimeric gene composed of the 35S promoter fromCauliflower Mosaic Virus (Odell et al. (1985) Nature 313:810-812), thehygromycin phosphotransferase gene from plasmid pJR225 (from E. coli;Gritz et al. (1983) Gene 25:179-188) and the 3′ region of the nopalinesynthase gene from the T-DNA of the Ti plasmid of Agrobacteriumtumefaciens. The seed expression cassette comprising the phaseolin 5′region, the fragment encoding the instant polypeptide and the phaseolin3′ region can be isolated as a restriction fragment. This fragment canthen be inserted into a unique restriction site of the vector carryingthe marker gene.

To 50 μL of a 60 mg/mL 1 μm gold particle suspension is added (inorder): 5 μL DNA (1 μg/μL), 20 μl spermidine (0.1 M), and 50 μL CaCl₂(2.5 M). The particle preparation is then agitated for three minutes,spun in a microfuge for 10 seconds and the supernatant removed. TheDNA-coated particles are then washed once in 400 μL 70% ethanol andresuspended in 40 μL of anhydrous ethanol. The DNA/particle suspensioncan be sonicated three times for one second each. Five μL of theDNA-coated gold particles are then loaded on each macro carrier disk.

Approximately 300-400 mg of a two-week-old suspension culture is placedin an empty 60×15 mm petri dish and the residual liquid removed from thetissue with a pipette. For each transformation experiment, approximately5-10 plates of tissue are normally bombarded. Membrane rupture pressureis set at 1100 psi and the chamber is evacuated to a vacuum of 28 inchesmercury. The tissue is placed approximately 3.5 inches away from theretaining screen and bombarded three times. Following bombardment, thetissue can be divided in half and placed back into liquid and culturedas described above.

Five to seven days post bombardment, the liquid media may be exchangedwith fresh media, and eleven to twelve days post bombardment with freshmedia containing 50 mg/mL hygromycin. This selective media can berefreshed weekly. Seven to eight weeks post bombardment, green,transformed tissue may be observed growing from untransformed, necroticembryogenic clusters. Isolated green tissue is removed and inoculatedinto individual flasks to generate new, clonally propagated, transformedembryogenic suspension cultures. Each new line may be treated as anindependent transformation event. These suspensions can then besubcultured and maintained as clusters of immature embryos orregenerated into whole plants by maturation and germination ofindividual somatic embryos.

Example 7 Expression of Chimeric Genes in Microbial Cells

The cDNAs encoding the instant polypeptide can be inserted into the T7E. coli expression vector pBT430. This vector is a derivative of pET-3a(Rosenberg et al. (1987) Gene 56:125-135) which employs thebacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase/T7 promoter system. Plasmid pBT430 wasconstructed by first destroying the EcoR I and Hind III sites in pET-3aat their original positions. An oligonucleotide adaptor containing EcoRI and Hind III sites was inserted at the BamH I site of pET-3a. Thiscreated pET-3aM with additional unique cloning sites for insertion ofgenes into the expression vector. Then, the Nde I site at the positionof translation initiation was converted to an Nco I site usingoligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. The DNA sequence of pET-3aM inthis region, 5′-CATATGG, was converted to 5′-CCCATGG in pBT430.

Plasmid DNA containing a cDNA may be appropriately digested to release anucleic acid fragment encoding the protein. This fragment may then bepurified on a 1% NuSieve GTG™ low melting agarose gel (FMC). Buffer andagarose contain 10 μg/ml ethidium bromide for visualization of the DNAfragment. The fragment can then be purified from the agarose gel bydigestion with GELase™ (Epicentre Technologies) according to themanufacturer's instructions, ethanol precipitated, dried and resuspendedin 20 μL of water. Appropriate oligonucleotide adapters may be ligatedto the fragment using T4 DNA ligase (New England Biolabs, Beverly,Mass.). The fragment containing the ligated adapters can be purifiedfrom the excess adapters using low melting agarose as described above.The vector pBT430 is digested, dephosphorylated with alkalinephosphatase (NEB) and deproteinized with phenol/chloroform as describedabove. The prepared vector pBT430 and fragment can then be ligated at16° C. for 15 hours followed by transformation into DH5 electrocompetentcells (GIBCO BRL). Transformants can be selected on agar platescontaining LB media and 100 μg/mL ampicillin. Transformants containingthe gene encoding the instant polypeptide are then screened for thecorrect orientation with respect to the T7 promoter by restrictionenzyme analysis.

For high level expression, a plasmid clone with the cDNA insert in thecorrect orientation relative to the T7 promoter can be transformed intoE. coli strain BL21(DE3) (Studier et al. (1986) J. Mol. Biol.189:113-130). Cultures are grown in LB medium containing ampicillin (100mg/L) at 25° C. At an optical density at 600 nm of approximately 1, IPTG(isopropylthio-β-galactoside, the inducer) can be added to a finalconcentration of 0.4 mM and incubation can be continued for 3 h at 25°.Cells are then harvested by centrifugation and re-suspended in 50 μL of50 mM Tris-HCl at pH 8.0 containing 0.1 mM DTT and 0.2 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. A small amount of 1 mm glass beads can be addedand the mixture sonicated 3 times for about 5 seconds each time with amicroprobe sonicator. The mixture is centrifuged and the proteinconcentration of the supernatant determined. One μg of protein from thesoluble fraction of the culture can be separated by SDS-polyacrylamidegel electrophoresis. Gels can be observed for protein bands migrating atthe expected molecular weight.

Example 8 Evaluating Compounds for Their Ability to Inhibit the Activityof Diacylglycerol Acyltransferases

The polypeptide described herein may be produced using any number ofmethods known to those skilled in the art. Such methods include, but arenot limited to, expression in bacteria as described in Example 7, orexpression in eukaryotic cell culture, in planta, and using viralexpression systems in suitably infected organisms or cell lines. Theinstant polypeptide may be expressed either as mature forms of theproteins as observed in vivo or as fusion proteins by covalentattachment to a variety of enzymes, proteins or affinity tags. Commonfusion protein partners include glutathione S-transferase (“GST”),thioredoxin (“Trx”), maltose binding protein, and C- and/or N-terminalhexahistidine polypeptide (“(His)₆”). The fusion proteins may beengineered with a protease recognition site at the fusion point so thatfusion partners can be separated by protease digestion to yield intactmature enzyme. Examples of such proteases include thrombin, enterokinaseand factor Xa. However, any protease can be used which specificallycleaves the peptide connecting the fusion protein and the enzyme.

Purification of the instant polypeptide, if desired, may utilize anynumber of separation technologies familiar to those skilled in the artof protein purification. Examples of such methods include, but are notlimited to, homogenization, filtration, centrifugation, heatdenaturation, ammonium sulfate precipitation, desalting, pHprecipitation, ion exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interactionchromatography and affinity chromatography, wherein the affinity ligandrepresents a substrate, substrate analog or inhibitor. When the instantpolypeptide are expressed as fusion proteins, the purification protocolmay include the use of an affinity resin which is specific for thefusion protein tag attached to the expressed enzyme or an affinity resincontaining ligands which are specific for the enzyme. For example, theinstant polypeptide may be expressed as a fusion protein coupled to theC-terminus of thioredoxin. In addition, a (His)₆ peptide may beengineered into the N-terminus of the fused thioredoxin moiety to affordadditional opportunities for affinity purification. Other suitableaffinity resins could be synthesized by linking the appropriate ligandsto any suitable resin such as Sepharose-4B. In an alternate embodiment,a thioredoxin fusion protein may be eluted using dithiothreitol;however, elution may be accomplished using other reagents which interactto displace the thioredoxin from the resin. These reagents includeβ-mercaptoethanol or other reduced thiol. The eluted fusion protein maybe subjected to further purification by traditional means as statedabove, if desired. Proteolytic cleavage of the thioredoxin fusionprotein and the enzyme may be accomplished after the fusion protein ispurified or while the protein is still bound to the ThioBond™ affinityresin or other resin.

Crude, partially purified or purified enzyme, either alone or as afusion protein, may be utilized in assays for the evaluation ofcompounds for their ability to inhibit enzymatic activation of theinstant polypeptide disclosed herein. Assays may be conducted under wellknown experimental conditions which permit optimal enzymatic activity.For example, assays for diacylglycerol acyltransferases are presented byM. Andersson et al. ((1994) J. Lipid Res. 35:535-545).

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of selecting an isolated polynucleotidethat affects the level of expression of a diacylglycerol acyltransferasepolypeptide in a plant cell, the method comprising the steps of: (a)constructing a recombinant DNA construct comprising a promoter operablylinked to an isolated polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence ofat least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:15; (b) introducing therecombinant DNA construct into a plant cell; (c) measuring the level ofdiacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptide in the plant cell containingthe recombinant DNA construct; (d) comparing the level of diacylglycerolacyltransferase polypeptide in the plant cell containing the recombinantDNA construct with the level of diacylglycerol acyltransferasepolypeptide in a plant cell that does not contain the isolatedpolynucleotide; and (e) selecting for the isolated polynucleotide thataffects the level of expression of the diacylglycerol acyltransferasepolypeptide in the plant cell.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theisolated polynucleotide comprises at least 60 contiguous nucleotides ofSEQ ID NO:15.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the isolatedpolynucleotide comprises a fragment of SEQ ID NO:15 encoding at least 50amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:16.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe isolated polynucleotide comprises a fragment of SEQ ID NO:15encoding at least 100 amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:16.
 5. A methodof selecting an isolated polynucleotide that affects the level ofexpression of a diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptide in a plant,the method comprising the steps of: (a) constructing a recombinant DNAconstruct comprising a promoter operably linked to an isolatednucleotide sequence of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ IDNO:15; (b) transforming a plant cell with the recombinant DNA constructof (a); (c) regenerating a transgenic plant from the transformed plantcell of (b), wherein the transgenic plant comprises the recombinant DNAconstruct; (d) measuring the level of diacylglycerol acyltransferasepolypeptide in the transgenic plant comprising the recombinant DNAconstruct; (e) comparing the level of diacylglycerol acyltransferasepolypeptide in the transgenic plant comprising the recombinant DNAconstruct with the level of diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptidein a plant that does not comprise the recombinant DNA construct; and (f)selecting for the isolated polynucleotide that affects the level ofexpression of the diacylglycerol acyltransferase polypeptide in theplant.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the isolated polynucleotidecomprises at least 60 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:15.
 7. Themethod of claim 5, wherein the isolated polynucleotide comprises afragment of SEQ ID NO:15 encoding at least 50 amino acid residues of SEQID NO:16.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein the isolated polynucleotidecomprises a fragment of SEQ ID NO:15 encoding at least 100 amino acidresidues of SEQ ID NO:16.